There have been so many spell animation changes in Mists of Pandaria so far. We already touched on the monk class and also the druid class changes, but in our latest videos, Krelumian covers other classes. This includes the warlocks who have some pretty huge changes--so many that we've broken it down in its own separate video!

Hit the break to see the details of every change broken down with images.

Scholomance

Overview

Familiar faces like Janice Barov and Rattlegore are back with updated mechanics, but some other bosses like Ras Frostwhisper and the six-minibosses that dropped armor sets are removed. Plus, fan-favorite Lilian Voss is seeking revenge on Darkmaster Gandling, who taunts her throughout the instance.

All NPCs models are updated as well to show off new Forsaken models created in Wrath.

You also get a potion that lasts sixty minutes upon drinking that turns you into Professor Slate's model.

What's Changed--And What Hasn't

All bosses have been reworked--some new, some familiar:Instructor Chillheart: A lich in the reworked first room, two-part fight. After fighting his soul, he retreats into the phylactery and summons hostile books and explosions.

Janice Barov: Now in the second large room, instead of the crypts. She periodically vanishes and summons shadowy versions of herself around the room--before, she summoned many more duplicate copies in close range.

Rattlegore: Rattlegore is no longer located in the basement. Instead, he spawns after you defeat piles of skeletons and watch a dialogue between Darkmaster Gandling and Lilian Voss. He casts Bone Spike which players can protect themselves from by clicking on piles of bones around the room for a buff.

Doctor Theolen Krastinov: He is probably back--there's a room full of Krastanovian Carvers and Flesh Horrors. However, these mobs were bugged and healed to full every minute, so that room was left untouched.

Lilian Voss: Gandling tries to bend her will--you put her out of her misery. If you damage her quickly enough, she will regain strength and end the encounter by significantly wounding Gandling. If not, her dark side will spawn and drain health from her.

Professor Slate: He's the potion master in the reworked classroom, in front of Bored Students! Turns into a Flesh Horror halfway through the encounter.

Darkmaster Gandling: In theory, he should port you to the various mini-boss rooms, but this encounter didn't look finished yet. The spell effects are amazing though.

If you're interested in the matching armor sets for transmog--better do it now. It looks like those six mini-bosses are removed.The art has been tweaked to be even creepier in this version of Scholomance--eerie ghostly faces appear on the walls, fel green candelabras, fancier spell effects. The Viewing Room is like a real classroom now, with bored students, desks, creepy picture, and potions.The instance is more compact now--no special basement areas for Rattlegore, Jandice, and Ras Frostwhisper now.

Darkmaster Gandling says: My dear, it appears we have visitors! Friends of yours, Voss?Lilian Voss: You there! Make yourselves useful and deal with these summoners!Darkmaster Gandling says: Their deaths only serve to empower my summons further! Behold!

Darkmaster Gandling: You, too, are beautiful, Voss. Have you looked in a mirror recently?Darkmaster Gandling: My dear, you should embrace this gift that has been bestowed upon you.Lilian Voss says: I will not let you curse another soul with this nightmare.Lilian Voss says: Run...necromancer..your life ends once I catch my breath.Darkmaster Gandling says: Come, Voss, your fate awaits you.

Darkmaster Gandling yells: Did you forget, girl? I am the darkmaster! I command the undead!Lilian Voss yells: I...won't let you..nnggaaaahhh!!Darkmaster Gandling yells: Now turn your lovely runeblades on our guests, and fetch me their bones!Lilian Voss says: I can't...fight him...Darkmaster Gandling says: I can feel her will breaking...her soul burns so brightly.Darkmaster Gandlight says: Now, Lilian, it is time for your transformation.

Individuals seeking to master the powers of undeath know well of Scholomance, the infamous school of necromancy located in the dark and foreboding crypts beneath Caer Darrow. In recent years, several of the instructors have changed, but the institution remains under the control of Darkmaster Gandling, a particularly sadistic and insidious practitioner of necromantic magic.

Instructor Chillheart

Course: Introduction to the Dark Arts
Instructor Chillheart journeyed from Northrend to teach aspiring necromancers discipline, harshly punishing those who disappoint her. She commands the icy chill of the north and masterfully uses Scholomance's libraries to deadly effect.

Stage One: First Lesson:

Ice Wall: Instructor Chillheart summons a wall of ice that slowly sweeps across the room, instantly killing any player it touches.

Wrack Soul: Instructor Chillheart shatters the soul of a player, inflicting 20000 Shadow damage every second for 10 sec. When Wrack Soul expires, it jumps to another player.

Ice Wrath: Instructor Chillheart wreaths a player in ice for 10 sec, causing them to inflict 83250 to 96750 Frost damage to all of their allies within 2.5 yards every second.

Touch of the Grave: Instructor Chillheart's icy touch causes her next 10 melee attacks to inflict an additional 41625 to 48375 Frost damage.

Frigid Grasp: Instructor Chillheart summons ice at a player's location that explodes from the ground, inflicting 332500 to 367500 Frost damage to all nearby players.

Stage Two: Second Lesson:When Instructor Chillheart's physical body dies, the foul magic that animated her escapes back to her phylactery.Fragments of Instructor Chillheart's soul escape the phylactery and animate the tomes of magic scattered throughout the classroom.

Jandice Barov

Course: Advanced Illusions
Barov's spirit lurked in the recesses of Scholomance for years, but now she has taken a more active role in educating the next generation of magi. Her vast knowledge of illusions has made her both a valued educator and a dangerous opponent to anyone foolish enough to draw her ire.

Wondrous Rapidity: Jandice rears her staff back with a flash of wondrous Arcane force, unleashing a barrage of attacks that inflict 170625 to 179375 Arcane damage in a cone in front of her.

Gravity Flux: Jandice creates a gravity distortion field that inflicts 170625 to 179375 Shadow damage to all enemies who enter it, knocking them back and causing them to briefly go blind.

Phantasmal Images:At 66% and 33% health Jandice dissipates into thin air, creating multiple illusions of herself. Destroying the one illusion Jandice hides behind forces her back into the fray.

In Heroic difficulty, defeating the wrong image causes a Flash Bang, inflicting 97500 to 102500 Arcane damage to all enemies.

Whirl of Illusion: Jandice hides amongst multiple illusions of herself, dancing in a Whirl of Illusion that inflicts 39000 to 41000 Arcane damage to all enemies every 1 second.

Rattlegore

Course: Reanimation 101
Rattlegore was thought to have been destroyed in Andorhal, but Gandling immediately began preparations to reanimate the clattering terror so he could guard against intruders. The Darkmaster sought to make Rattlegore more ferocious than ever, imbuing him with an insatiable desire to harvest raw materials from his enemies.

Bone Spike: Rattlegore launches a powerful spike of bone at a random player, inflicting 300000 Physical damage and knocking them back a great distance. Bone Armor absorbs the effect of Bone Spikes.

Soulflame: The souls of the dead Boneweavers continue to torment the living, periodically engulfing a section of the room in Soulflame. The flame inflicts 141375 to 158625 Fire damage every 0.5 sec. and grows in size over time.

Bone Pile: Bone Piles lie scattered throughout the summoning room. Interacting with a Bone Pile grants a player a charge of Bone Armor.

Bone Armor: Surrounds the caster with a series of whirling bones that absorbs one Bone spell.

Lilian Voss

Course: Reeducation
The undead Lilian Voss strangled her father--a high priest of the Scarlet Crusade--for treachery, and then started a rampage that eventually led her into the shadowy corridors of Scholomance. Rather than destroy the intruder, Darkmaster Gandling graciously decided to show Voss how to embrace her grim fate. The anger and runeblades she had once directed at the school are now turned toward Gandling's enemies.

Stage One: Fetch Me Their Bones!:Darkmaster Gandling turns Lilian Voss against her former allies, employing her powerful abilities to gather more corpses for his devious purposes. Though she tries to fight against his dark will, she cannot control her actions at this time.

Shadow Shiv: Lilian leaps onto a player and strikes them with both runeblades, inflicting 120000 Shadow damage to players within 8 yards.

Death's Grasp: Lilian draws upon dark powers to pull all players to her location.

Unleashed Anguish: Lilian's anguish is further unleashed when striking players in melee. For every melee strike, Lilian will unleash another barrage of Blazing Soul. However, the movement speed of Lilian's Soul is significantly reduced.

Fixate Anger: Lilian's Soul fixates on a player. She will only attempt to attack that player and cannot be taunted.

Finale: Die, Necromancer!:When Lilian's physical body reaches 1% remaining health, she musters the strength to recombine with her soul for a final assault on Darkmaster Gandling.

Darkmaster Gandling

Course: Advanced Studies
The recent defeat in Andorhal has put Darkmaster Gandling in the foulest of moods. More than ever, all students of Scholomance are advised to impress him at every turn. Pupils who dissatisfy the headmaster will be removed from class to perform lab work... or become lab work.

Incinerate: Gandling deals 138750 to 161250 Fire damage to his current target.

We got to check out two wings of Scarlet Monastery--formerly four instances, SM is now reduced down to two. This instance has been entirely retooled: bosses are redesigned and renamed, large areas are removed, sides commonly known as the Library and the Armory were merged to become the Scarlet Halls while the Graveyard and Cathedral became the Scarlet Cathedral.

In short, a lot of HUGE changes! We've also updated this post because our instance was bugged last time.

Watch the video for our complete run through--my character with Krelumian narrating--or click the tabs to see a detailed breakdown on what the changes are.

Video

The Scarlet Crusade is having a war and they're losing it pretty badly in the remnants of what many players referred to as the Graveyard side. Undead pour in and corpses burn in large, decaying piles throughout the somber scene. The area has also been pruned of Interrogator Vishas and his torture scene as well as trash mobs. This is now part of Scarlet Cathedral. It transitions seamlessly into where the Cathedral area was. High Inquisitor Whitemane is there and the encounter is similar to what it was before, with the exception that Scarlet Commander Mograine is replaced by General Durand.

Meanwhile, the Library side is gone and has instead merged with the Scarlet Armory. It is now called the Scarlet Halls. Chained mastiffs attack you and archers wait at the ready to snipe you. You have to pick up a practice target and use it as a shield, deflecting the wave of arrows that follow. Both bosses Houndmaster Loksey and Herod have been replaced with newer NPCs that keep their looks but are different characters.

After you make it through the Armory portion, instead of ending, it continues on to what was the end of the Library. Mobs drop gold piles you can loot for extra gold. At the end, you fight Flameweaver Koegler--a replacement for Arcanist Doan.

What's Changed--And What Hasn't

The levels remain the same for normal mode

There is a level 90 heroic version

Largely unfinished, no voice acting for the bosses or loot tables

Instead of four separate areas, it's two, and they were merged together

The Crusade's fiercest warriors, those who have held their ground and fought to defend the monastery throughout these dark times, are rapidly preparing an army within the Scarlet Halls. These soldiers are bound by their hatred of the unliving, and they are willing to sacrifice everything for their order's righteous cause.

Houndmaster Braun

The quickest and surest way to detect the undead is by the scent of rot they carry, and even the most veteran soldier cannot match the olfactory sense of a hound. Houndmaster Braun has bred and trained a savage pack of canines to aid the crusaders in hunting down their foes--living and undead.

Piercing Throw: Houndmaster Braun throws one of his knives at a random enemy, inflicting 95000 to 105000 Physical damage and applying Bloody Mess to all enemies in the knife's path.

Death Blossom: Houndmaster Braun leaps onto a random enemy and whirls around, releasing a spray of knives at all targets within 5 yards, inflicting 95000 to 105000 Physical damage and applying Bloody Mess to the target and any of its nearby allies.

Bloody Mess: Houndmaster Braun's knife attacks inflict 14250 to 15750 damage to an enemy every 2 sec. for 10 sec. This effect stacks.Braun applies this effect to any target hit by Piercing Throw or Death Blossom.

Obedient Hound: Trained by Houndmaster Braun, this large mastiff follows any order given to it by his master.

Bloody Rage: At 50% remaining health and unable to control his dogs, Houndmaster Braun begins to attack 50% faster and inflicts 25% more damage.

Flameweaver Koegler

Flameweaver Koegler trains the Scarlet Crusade's more magically minded adepts in the subtle applications of the arcane. Fire is his specialty, and he has used his skills to burn the order's historical tomes, erasing the Crusade's past failures. Apart from books, Koegler's flames have rendered many--undead, students, and trespassers alike--into piles of smoking ash.

Book Burner: Flameweaver Kogler tries to light the books ablaze containing the Scarlet Crusade's past. Players may intercept the fiery bolt, which inflicts 234000 to 246000 Fire damage. If Koegler's attack succesfully hits the books, they begin to burn.

Greater Dragon's Breath: Koegler unleashes a sweeping series of attacks that mimic the deadly fire breath of a Dragon. The Breath inflicts 243750 to 256250 Fire damage, an additional 48750 to 51250 Fire damage every 1 sec., and confuses the target for 5 sec.

Quickened Mind: Flameweaver Koegler casts this preparatory spell, making his next three spells cast nearly instantly.

Pyroblast: Flameweaver Koegler casts a huge Pyroblast at his current target, inflicting 195000 to 205000 Fire damage, then an additional 40000 Fire damage every 1 sec for 8 sec.

The Crusade's fanatical leaders direct their followers from the Scarlet Cathedral, at the heart of the monastery grounds. This heavily guarded location functions as the order's headquarters, and some of the most zealous and intolerant crusaders roam the halls of this once-hallowed place.

Thalnos the Soulrender

Thalnos earned repute in the Scarlet Crusade for the brutal torture methods he used to "purify" new recruits. Ultimately, the sadistic mage contracted the plague of undeath and arose as a fearsome skeletal being. The vengeful Thalnos now prowls the monastery's graveyard, commanding apparitions and zombified creatures to attack anyone who trespasses on his unholy domain.

Fallen Crusader: The bodies of Fallen Crusaders remain after being defeated.

Mind Rot: The melee attacks of a Fallen Crusader can inflict Mind Rot on their current target. The Mind Rot inflicts 975 to 1025 Shadow damage every 2 sec for 6 sec. This effect stacks.

Spirit Gale: Thalnos the Soulrender launches a spirit at the location of his current target. When the spirit reaches its target, a Spirit Gale forms. The Gale immediately inflicts 121875 to 128125 Shadow damage to players within 2 yards, then inflicts 43875 to 46125 Shadow damage every 1 sec. to enemies standing inside the effect.

Evict Soul: Thalnos the Soulrender rips the soul from a random player, inflicting 58500 to 61500 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 6 sec.Every time Evict Soul inflicts damage it creates an Evicted Soul of the target. Evicted Souls attack the closest friend of their target.

Evicted Soul: The Evicted Soul's attacks inflict 14625 to 15375 Shadow damage to enemies within 6 yards of his target.

Brother Korloff

Brother Korloff first learned of the monk's deadly arts from pandaren ambassadors as they journeyed through Azeroth. When the crusader demonstrated this martial style to his superiors, they unanimously ordered Korloff to train an entire generation of initiates in the ways of the monk.

Blazing Fists: Brother Korloff begins to unleash a flurry of fiery blows, inflicting 40% of his normal melee damage as Fire damage to targets in front of him every 1 sec. for 6 sec.

Firestorm Kick: Brother Korloff flies towards a random player and performs a Firestorm Kick, inflicting 76000 to 84000 Fire damage to all players within 7 yards.

Rising Flame: Whenever Brother Korloff loses 10% of his total health, a Rising Flame burns within him and he inflicts 10% additional Fire damage. This effect stacks.

High Inquisitor Whitemane

At a young age, Sally Whitemane witnessed her family succumb to the horrific plague of undeath as they were traveling through northern Lordaeron. She was then forced to destroy her parents and siblings when they rose as mindless Scourge minions, leaving her racked by guilt and rage. Ever since that day, the fearsome priestess has found fulfillment and pleasure in only one thing: the destruction of undead.

Commander Durand:The new military commander of the Scarlet Crusade attacks the players with a series of lightning quick strikes.

Flash of Steel: Commander Durand rapidly shifts around the battlefield, attacking random players and inflicting 57000 to 63000 Physical damage every time he strikes.

Dashing Strike: Commander Durand quickly dashes through his enemies to a location, inflicting 57000 to 63000 Physical damage to every enemy in his path.

High Inquisitor Whitemane:The High Inquisitor of the Scarlet Crusade comes to the aid of Commander Durand when he falls, resurrecting him to fight at her side.

Power Word: Shield: High Inquisitor Whitemane wraps an ally in a magical shield that absorbs 75000 damage.

We datamined dozens of new models today from the Mists of Pandaria beta, including striking new armor pieces from questing and Challenge Modes. The whole content team has been hard at work putting together videos of all the models below--some of the quest reward sets are really distinctive, and there's a bunch of asymmetrical shoulder designs, which players love. You can preview all the models in our 3-D Model Viewer as well!

Crackling Jade Lightning(40 Energy, 40 yd range, Channeled): Channels Jade lightning at the target, causing X Nature damage over 6 sec. // If the enemy attacks you within melee range while victim to Crackling Jade Lightning, they are knocked back a short distance. This effect has an 8 sec cooldown.

Zen Meditation(Chanelled, 3 min cooldown): Reduces all damage taken by 0% and redirects to you all harmful spells cast against your allies within 0 yards. Lasts 10 sec. // Being the victim of a melee attack will break your meditation, cancelling the effect.

Summon Black Ox Statue(40 yd range, 3 min cooldown): Summons a Black Ox Statue at the target location. Lasts for 10 min. Only one Black Ox Statue can be summoned at any one time. // The Black Ox Statue interacts with your Provoke and Leer of the Ox abilities. // Guard (On - Click Effect) // Allies can right-click the Statue to gain the Guard effect, absorbing X damage. Any healing done by the Monk is increased by Y% while Guard is active. Guard has a 10 charges.

(Ox Stance, 15 yd range, 1 min cooldown, Instant): You reduce the damage taken by all nearby friendly targets within X yards by Y%, and cause half of all remaining damage they take to be re-directed to you. Lasts for 15 sec. // Avert Harm is cancelled if you reach 10% or lower health.

Dizzying Haze(40 Energy, 40 yd range): You hurl a keg of your finest brew, reducing the movement speed of all enemies within 8 yards by 15%. // Affected targets have a 3% chance to have their attacks missfire and strike themselves instead for D damage. Stacks up to 3 times.

Blizzard posted the final raid finder loot rules--a topic I remember many of you were curious about! It looks fairly standard and hopefully will prevent loot being taken unfairly by players who want to grief or gear their offspec over main.

We were also sent a 4.3 video today showcasing Dragon Soul and the three new 5-mans. However, it doesn't have music, so we'll update links if Blizzard's YouTube channel ends up having a different one; we were sent this by Blizzard's PR team and told to post away, but it doesn't seem to be the usual quality for a trailer. Still, it features gorgeous footage and really highlights the instances.

4.3 Raid Finder Loot Rules

As previously announced the Raid Finder will use an altered version of Need Before Greed that provides loot roll bonuses to those that have entered the raid in the role (tank, DPS, healing) that uses those items. Unfortunately the system is currently unable to detect spec, and so this creates some issues for classes that utilize stats that are not "common" to that role.

To help clarify which items you will or will not be able to roll on based on the role you entered the raid in, we have some basic guidelines that we've followed that should help you anticipate which items you'll receive the roll bonus on.

If you're in a raid as one of the below roles here is what you'll receive a roll bonus on:

Tank:

Agility Leather (for druids)

Strength plate with tank stats on it

Trinkets with tank stats

Trinkets with Agility (for druids)

Healer:

Any appropriate caster gear without Hit

Trinkets that trigger on heals or beneficial spells

DPS:

Mostly everything that doesn’t have a tank stat on it

Spirit gear (for elemental shaman, shadow priest, and moonkin)

Trinkets that trigger on damaging spells/melee hits

In some cases we've been overly restrictive when flagging accessories (Petrified Fungal Heart and Signet of Grasping Mouths in particular), and we're planning to modify a couple of those items to be less restrictive before or shortly after the patch goes live.

With Mists of Pandaria our expectation is that we will have the ability to detect spec, and so all of these issues go away for future raids. For Dragon Soul there will be some overlap, though, and it's important you're aware of the loot rules as due to the automated distribution system our support department will not be able to assist with any loot disputes while using Raid Finder.

A pretty big news round up day, as we have a lot of news to share plus fun things like contest winners and our Deathwing kill video.

First and foremost, however, we have a job opening at Wowhead. It's always a huge honor to bring someone aboard our team and this time is no different. ZAM is growing and we've found ourselves in need of a Java Developer. If you have a lot of experience and know how to code, as well as have a strong passion for video games, you should look us up; after reading the requirements, just send your salary history and resume to jobs@wowhead.com if you're interested.

Deathwing Kill Video

I made this a few days ago for Tankspot--it's just me killing Deathwing on the final encounter of Dragon Soul from this week's PTR. I realized I never shared it, though!

A few words on the fight: first off, it's really fun. It looks boring when you see a video, because it's just generally boring to watch videos anyway; the gist of the fight is that you gain buffs, you have to dynamically jump to the platform, and then you have to engage Deathwing which removes your buff. After doing this four times, you face him and kill him.

It was fairly easy, but a GM talked with us directly and assured us they would be adding more difficulty in normal mode as well as heroic. He noticed us ignoring certain aspects to maximize DPS and being able to heal through it, so I'm sure they'll fix that.

There's also a cinematic that cues when he dies, however, it was a filler Cataclysm trailer at this point. So it's obvious he will have an awesome cinematic much like Lich King did after his final death.

Contest Winners

In other news, we had a really huge TCG contest last week as well as a quick giveaway for a few Blizzard store pets. It was a fun time to be the community manager this week--I love giving away free things!

We read almost every entry for the contest and tried to pick people who put creativity into their entries this time around as promised. As such, half our wins are random; the other half are merit based. Thanks for all the effort, even if you didn't win.

News Posts

Monk Class Color

Right now the monk is jade green. We like the color, but it's not absolutely set in stone. For those wondering how this would work with the hunter green, it's as different as the colors are for mages and shaman.

Zarhym on Redoing Tier Sets

i know it probably isn't one of the biggest concerns out there, but i was wondering if anyone knew if there was any plans to update the old gear to current graphics? I think it would be awsome...maybe not a top priority thing, but something to work on the side perhaps.

We don't have any plans to tamper with the art of existing tier sets. Transmogrification is being implemented, in part, to allow nostalgic players the option of wearing old gear without having to worry about the stats anymore. But, we don't want to go back and actually alter those looks. That'd almost defeat the purpose, especially given we'd prefer to focus our time on designing new sets to allow for more customization options (including aesthetic, stat-less sets to be used solely for Transmogrification).

The art and animation teams are incredibly busy, and sometimes I feel they don't get enough credit for the amount of work they do, or how much work is involved in each project. There are a number of projects on their list -- many of which players would love to see progress on -- but this isn't currently one of them that I'm aware of.

Progress on 4.3

We don't normally announce release dates for patches. I can say that we're still working on it and if you're interested in checking it out, it's available on the PTR. We have a lot of information out on the patch and are planning a nice little "round up" piece of information for the front page for those that may have missed some of the coverage.

WoW Annual Pass Extended to More Countries Such as Mexico

The World of Warcraft Annual Pass has been expanded to include more countries and is now available in Russia, Switzerland, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and more.*

For a limited time only, players who make a 12-month subscription commitment to World of Warcraft through the WoW Annual Pass will receive the following epic rewards:

Diablo III FREE – Download the digital version via Battle.net for free when the game launches. This is the full game, not a trial edition.

Tyrael’s Charger WoW Flying Mount – Ride for the Archangel of Justice on all current and future characters on a single World of Warcraft account. Tyrael’s Charger will arrive via in-game mail with the upcoming launch of patch 4.3.

Access to the Next WoW Expansion Beta Test – Get a guaranteed spot in the beta test for the next World of Warcraft expansion (at a time to be announced in the future).

Sign up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass here, and then keep an eye on the World of Warcraft community site or the Diablo III community site for future announcements regarding the launch dates of these bonuses.

For more information on this offer, including eligibility requirements and details on how the World of Warcraft Annual Pass applies to players who plan to purchase the Diablo III: Collector’s Edition, please read the full FAQ.

Patch 4.3 - PTR Build 14942 - Spell Changes

There's a small PTR patch that just hit the servers. The biggest news seems to be that potions were updated to be cheaper as well as more effective.

We have a long weekend coming; BlizzCon is finally here and our huge party is about to go down. But today I was able to hop on the PTR to test and kill Yor'sahj the Unsleeping and Ultraxion on 25-player mode! They are fairly easy fights, just how a normal 25-man fight should be. I imagine that Yor'sahj in particular will be incredibly tough on heroic as some of his combinations were hard even on normal.

But I enlisted the help of Perculia and my guildmates; together we tackled the first 5-man End Time (the other two weren't open) for screenshots and videos. We've also got their drops from the client uploaded on our PTR site; modelviewer sets of all the new dungeon sets which all match each other, even if they don't have set bonuses; and the dungeon journal entries for every instance. There are a lot of placeholders for the DJ, though, so be warned!

End Time Dungeon Journal and Video Preview

Echo of Baine

Enraged by his failure to protect the world and, most importantly, the Horde, this time-ravaged shade of Baine Bloodhoof lingers within the ruins of the Obsidian Dragonshrine. Although he's still as powerful as the tauren high chieftain from the present, within this shattered future Azeroth, this guilt-ridden echo is little more than a discordant vessel of unquenchable malice and anger.

Throw Totem: Baine throws his totem at the target, inflicting 60000 Physical damage to the target, knocking them back. Baine's Totem will persist on the ground at the location for several seconds.

Throw Totem: Throwing the totem back at Baine inflicts 10% Physical damage, stunning him for 6 sec and increasing damage taken by 100%.

Echo of Jaina

The tormented fragment of Jaina Proudmoore has been split and infused within the shattered pieces of her staff. To restore balance to the timeways, this echo must be defeated. However, the devastating magical power possessed by the once-proud ruler of Theramore is hardly lost to her time-havocked spectre. In this future Azeroth, she is only divided, and waiting...

Flarecore: Jaina hurls a growing Flarecore ember at the ground near an enemy. The ember explodes if touched, inflicting 4999-$101980M1 Fire damage to enemies within 5 yds. If not exploded within 10 sec, the ember detonates, inflicting 94500 Fire damage to all enemies.

Frost Blades: Jaina conjures three blades of ice and sends them flying forward. Enemies that collide with the blades are encased in a block of ice, stunning them for 5 sec.

Echo of Sylvanas

Spawned from shattered timeways and cloistered within the Ruby Dragonshrine, a maddened fragment of the Forsaken's leader, Sylvanas Windrunner, waits restlessly. Having lost everything and unable to find peace, this tormented echo aches for a chance to unleash her dark fury at anything still living within these barren, time-twisted wastes.

Shriek of the Highborne: Sylvanas shrieks with anguish, inflicting 50000 Shadow damage to a random enemy and decreasing their movement speed by -50% for 30 sec

Unholy Shot: Sylvanas fires a volley of missiles at an enemy and its nearby allies, striking up to 3 targets for 50000 Shadow damage.

Blighted Arrows: Sylvanas blights the ground beneath an enemy and leaps towards the sky. The blight deals 35000 damage every 0.85 seconds and snares enemies caught within. At the peak of her jump, she fires a volley of deadly arrows at the blighted ground, dealing 50000 Shadow damage to those who remain in the blight, knocking them back.

The Calling of the Highborne

Sylvanas ascends towards the sky, pulling enemies towards her. Her calling rouses the dead nearby, who burst from the ground and form a dark bond. Players that cross this link will take 25000 Shadow damage initially, and for every second they stand in the shadows. They charge mindlessly towards Sylvanas, awaiting her sacrifice. The ritual of sacrifice deals 300000 damage to players within 10 yards of her.
Defeating a ghoul will break the bond.

Echo of Tyrande

Once the leader of the night elves and High Priestess of Elune, this time-twisted fragment of Tyrande Whisperwind now wanders the wastes of the desolate future of Azeroth. Enveloped in a perpetual midnight, she has all but lost sight of the comforting light of Elune.

Stardust: Tyrande scatters a diffuse trail of star energy into the wind, inflicting 20000 Arcane damage to all players.

Moonlance: Tyrande summons forth a powerful lance of moon energy that travels along the ground and splits into three parts after several seconds. Each Moonlance inflicts 30000 Arcane damage to all players within 1.5 yards and stuns them for 5 sec.

Eyes of the Goddess

Tyrande summons forth the twin eyes of Elune, the Moon Goddess. Players cannot attack the Eyes of the Goddess.

Piercing Gaze of Elune: The Eyes of Elune travel in a circular motion around Tyrande, emitting the Piercing Gaze of Elune every 1 seconds. Piercing Gaze of Elune inflicts 30000 Arcane damage to all players within 6 yards and silences them for 5 sec.

Lunar Guidance: At 80% health, Tyrande beseeches Elune for guidance. Tyrande is imbued with Lunar Guidance, allowing her spells to cast 25% faster. Tyrande gains a second stack of Lunar Guidance when she reaches 55% health.

Tears of Elune: At 30% health, Tyrande cries out for aid from the Moon Goddess. Tears of Elune rain from the sky for the remainder of the battle, inflicting 10000 Arcane damage to players within 5 yards.

Murozond

Murozond is the evil version of Nozdormu. (Note the letters are Nozdormu's name reordered. That's how you know he's evil)

Distortion Bomb: Fires an orb of temporal energy at the location. It explodes and inflicts $101984 Shadow damage to all enemies caught within the blast and 25000 Shadow damage every second to all enemies remaining the area. Lasts $d.

Flame Breath: Inflicts 75000 Fire damage to all enemies in front of the caster.

Nozdormu

Nozdormu is unable to assist the players directly, but grants them the Blessing of the Bronze Dragonflight.

Blessing of the Bronze Dragonflight: Blesses the target with the power of the Bronze Dragonflight. Melee, ranged, and spell casting speed is increased by 40%. Movement speed increased by 40%.

Hourglass of Time

The hourglass of time was stolen by Murozond and trapped here within the End Time of Azeroth. Players can use it up to five times, casting Rewind Time.

Rewind Time: Reverses time to the beginning of the fight, restoring health, mana and combat cooldowns. In addition, all Distortion Bombs cast by Murozond are removed.

End Time Screenshots

End Time

Upon zoning into the instance, players view a ruined and charred Dragonblight. Clicking on the orb will transport you to one of the four Dragonshrines, where you will fight a corrupted faction leader.

You'll find yourself in a very different Dragonblight, stripped of its snowy landscape, with little more than ruins of the once-great dragonshrines. Wyrmrest Temple itself stands only as a reminder of Deathwing's madness -- what's left of his scorched remains is impaled atop the structure.

Echo of Baine

The Echo of Baine resides in the Obsidian Dragonshrine, just west of Wrathgate. Players will remember the Obsidian Dragonshrine from The Obsidian Dragonshrine, a quest chain that showed the extent of the Black Dragonflight's corruption. Patrolling dragons and a sea of lava guard Baine.

Echo of Baine: Enraged by his failure to protect the world and, most importantly, the Horde, this time-ravaged shade of Baine Bloodhoof lingers within the ruins of the Obsidian Dragonshrine. Although he's still as powerful as the tauren high chieftain from the present, within this shattered future Azeroth, this guilt-ridden echo is little more than a discordant vessel of unquenchable malice and anger.

Echo of Jaina

The Echo of Jaina resides in the Azure Dragonshrine, south of Wyrmrest Temple. In previous times, it was the home of the Blue Dragonflight and the hub of Malygos' efforts to redirect potent ley lines--which had disastrous consequences. Players engage Jaina after clicking on 16 fragments scattered around the Dragonshrine--patrolling tormented Alliance soldiers may be killed at the player's discretion.

Echo of Jaina: The tormented fragment of Jaina Proudmoore has been split and infused within the shattered pieces of her staff. To restore balance to the timeways, this echo must be defeated. However, the devastating magical power possessed by the once-proud ruler of Theramore is hardly lost to her time-havocked spectre. In this future Azeroth, she is only divided, and waiting....

Echo of Sylvanas

The Echo of Sylvanas resides in the remains of the Ruby Dragonshrine, the home of the Red Dragonflight. Now a shadow of its former self, the zone is barren of all life. Geists patrol this zone filled with dragon bones and dead trees.

Echo of Sylvanas: Spawned from shattered timeways and cloistered within the Ruby Dragonshrine, a maddened fragment of the Forsaken's leader, Sylvanas Windrunner, waits restlessly. Having lost everything and unable to find peace, this tormented echo aches for a chance to unleash her dark fury at anything still living within these barren, time-twisted wastes.

Echo of Tyrande

The Echo of Tyrande resides in the Emerald Dragonshrine--the resting place of Ysera. In this new version, the formerly-verdant shrine is now pitch-black. Tyrande, reflecting in the shadows, casts pools of moonlight around the zone, summoning waves of tormented Sentinels and sabercats. Players engage her after she has finished summoning all of her waves.

Echo of Tyrande: Once high priestess of Elune and leader of the night elves, this time-twisted fragment of Tyrande Whisperwind now wanders the desolate future of Azeroth. Enveloped by eternal midnight, she is forever separated from the comforting light of Elune and torn by questions about why her goddess did nothing to put an end to such madness.

Murozond <The Lord of the Infinite>

After defeating two of the four leaders (chosen at random), players zone into the Bronze Dragonshire. Here players fight the twisted version of Nozdormu--Murozond--in a fun encounter that utilizes hourglasses to increase movement and runspeed.

Once these shades have been laid to rest, the maniacal figure blocking Nozdormu's vision will be revealed at the Bronze Dragonshrine. None of the Dragon Aspects could have predicted what entity would have such power to interrupt the sight of the Timeless One… the ability to create a new and infinite dragonflight. Only by destroying a mysterious dragon known as Murozond will you give Azeroth's protectors the opportunity to avoid the potential outcome to which your eyes bear witness.

Action Screenshots

Here are some screenshots from our afternoon spent on the PTR--you'll get a fuller sense from the video, but some of the faction leaders' abilities were too striking not to capture!

Dungeon Sets Preview

In 4.3, the three 5-mans will have matching gear! They all have unique and interesting skins, so we've got them here for you. Remember to click on the images to open our modelviewer.

Transmogrification and Void Storage

We took some screenshots with the Transmogrification and Void Storage NPCs on the PTR. Blizzard today once again reminded players that the details are subject to change--including Void Storage costs--so for now, just take a peek at what the interface looks like.

Other Dungeon Journal Entries

Start thinking up strategies now--we have all the dungeon journals up here, broken down for you to read into nice tabs!

Well of Eternity

Peroth'arn

Like many of his fellow Highborne, Peroth'arn swore allegiance to the corrupted Xavius in exchange for gifts of demonic power. As a master of fiendish magic and recipient of the satyr curse, Peroth'arn stands outside Azshara's palace in defense of the Burning Legion, ready to destroy those hoping to disrupt the entrance of the Dark Titan, Sargeras, into Azeroth.

Combat Phase: Kill the Satyr!

Peroth'arn is ambushed by the heroes, but won't go down without a fight. He corrupts those around him, dealing heavy damage. PH

Hunting Phase: Hero Failure PH

Easy Prey: Upon being spotted by the Demonic Eyes, the hero is stunned for five seconds and Pero'tharn returns from the shadows. PH

Queen Azshara

The songs of Queen Azshara's beauty, majesty, and power are too numerous to count, but it was her vanity that drove the Highborne to summon the Burning Legion. She now watches her most trusted magi empower the portal where Sargeras will be brought into Azeroth, content to let multitudes of her servants die in advance of the Dark Titan's arrival.

You are mine now!: Periodically, Queen Azshara will charm a random target, causing them to become a puppet. Players will be released from her control when the puppet strings are defeated.

Dance, puppets!: Eventually, Queen Azshara is overcome with boredom. She will attempt to turn the entire party into puppets. This ability must be kicked.

Holy Magus

Mannoroth and Varo'then

Varo'then, head of Queen Azshara's personal guard, and Mannoroth, the pit lord whose blood will corrupt the entire orc race, stand as the last line of defense against those hoping to bar Sargeras's entry into Azeroth. Though both Tyrande and Illidan have fought bravely thus far, the fate of Azeroth will be decided at the Well of Eternity's very brink.

Hour of Twilight

Arcurion

Horde and Alliance assaults against the Twilight's Hammer have slaughtered many of the cult's fearsome elemental ascendants. One exception is Arcurion, a formidable ice ascendant tasked to slay Thrall and retrieve the Dragon Soul. Should this twisted elemental being succeed, nothing will be able to stop Deathwing from ushering in the Hour of Twilight.

Torrent of Frost: At 30% health Arcurion unleashes a devastating Torrent of Frost dealing 20000 frost damage each second to all enemies and reducing their movement speed by -50%.

Asira Dawnslayer

Former blade-for-hire Asira Sunbright was initially leery of working for the Twilight's Hammer, but the cult's generous payments quickly won her over. In time, she succumbed to the corruptive influence of her dark employers, even going so far as to take on the name Dawnslayer. As one of the cult's deadliest assassins, Asira has been called upon to exterminate Thrall and his comrades.

Mark of Silence: Asira marks enemy spellcasters. When a marked target casts a spell, Asira throws a knife in their direction.

Throw Knife: Asira throws one of her knives toward an enemy spellcaster, inflicting 10000 Physical damage to the first player it collides with. If the knife hits a player afflicted with Mark of Silence, it also silences for 2.5 sec.

Choking Smoke Bomb: Creates a cloud of thick smoke in an 10 yard radius around the caster for 40 sec. Enemies are unable to target into or out of the smoke cloud and will take 5000 Nature damage every 1 seconds.

Blade Barrier: Assume a dazzling display of weapon mastery. Incoming damage below 30000 is reduced to 1. Effect ends when the caster is hit by damaging attack or spell above this threshold. Cast at low health.

Lesser Blade Barrier: Asira puts up this weaker barrier when Blade Barrier is removed. Incoming damage below 25000 is reduced to 1. Effect ends when the caster is hit by damaging attack or spell above this threshold.

Archbishop Benedictus

Archbishop Benedictus is the revered leader of the Church of the Holy Light. For years, his wise guidance has been instrumental in seeing humanity through bleak times. Yet beneath his apparent benevolence lies the shocking truth that Benedictus has pledged himself to the eradication of all life on Azeroth through the agency of his dark master... Deathwing.

Stage One: The Betrayal

Benedictus assaults Thrall with the powers of the Holy Light.

Righteous Shear: The Righteous Shear inflicts Holy damage to enemies within 10 yards of the target per stack of Righteous Shear.

Purifying Light: Benedictus forms three orbs of Purifying Light and raises them above his head, sending them to assault a nearby enemy, causing a Purifying Blast.

Wave of Twilight: Benedictus summons a Wave of Twilight to sweep across the platform which inflicts 100000 Shadow damage to nearby enemies, knocking them back.

Thrall

Thrall will assist his allies, helping to combat Archbishop Benedictus.

Cleansing Spirit: Thrall Cleanses the Spirit, dispeling one stack of a magic debuff!

Chain Lightning: Thrall lashes out at the Purifying Light, jumping to another nearby target, destroying them.

Water Shell: The Water Shell protects allies from the Wave of Virtue and increases damage done by 100% while inside the Water Shell.

Dragon Soul

Morchok

The most powerful elemental still under Deathwing's sway, Morchok-once a passive guardian-is now convinced that his only respite will come with Azeroth's demise. Morchok rages against the foundation of Wyrmrest Temple, Azeroth's last beacon of hope in the Hour of Twilight.

Stomp: Morchok performs a massive stomp, splitting 500000 damage between all enemies within 20 yards. The two closest targets take a double share of the damage.

Twilight Orb: Morchok conjures an explosive crystal, which explodes after 12 sec. The explosion splits the damage between the five closest enemies.
The total damage increases the further the enemy is from the crystal.
Designer Note: 150000 damage base.

The Earth Consumes You!

Morchok channels an intense spell, causing fragments to erupt to the surface and draw the Black Blood of the Earth to the surface. For 5 sec, he deals 5000 damage to all visible enemies within 4 yards.

Black Blood of the Earth: Morchok channels the blood of the earth and inflicts 5000 Nature damage to nearby enemies, increasing Nature damage taken by 10% every sec. Stacks up to 20 times.

Fury: Morchok enrages, decreasing the time between his attacks by 50% and increases his damage by 20% for until cancelled.

Warlord Zon'ozz

Countless ages ago, Warlord Zon'ozz and his soldiers waged endless war against the forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron. Millennia have passed, but the warlord still serves the chaotic might of the Old God N'Zoth. Deathwing has now unleashed this legendary faceless one to crush the defenders of Wyrmrest Temple.

Void of the Unmaking: Warlord Zon'ozz summons a void of shadows. This void will travel forward until it encounters a soul to absorb. The void then diffuses, causing 200000 Shadow damage split evenly between nearby units. The force of this diffusion causes the void to richocet in the opposite direction, and the souls it absorbed increases the damage it deals by 200000% per diffusion.

A Necessary Distraction!

If the Void of the Unmaking collides with the Warlord Zon'ozz, it will cause a distracting shock to him, increasing the damage he takes by 5% for every stack of Void Diffusion that the void had on impact.
This collision enrages Warlord Zon'ozz, causing him to awaken the Mouth of Iso'rath, but lose any stacks of Focused Anger he had acquired.

Claw of Iso'rath

These units will knock back nearby players and emit the Blood of the Old Gods.

Eye of Iso'rath

These units will cast a Shadowy Gaze at a random enemy, dealing 31200 Shadow damage.

Yor'sahj the Unsleeping

Since the fall of the Bastion of Twilight, Yor'sahj the Unsleeping has eagerly assisted Deathwing, providing the Destroyer with the means to release more faceless ones from their prisons deep beneath the earth. Their numbers are endless and their power is beyond reckoning, and Yor'sahj intends to reap a grim reward for his faithful service.

Void Bolt: Soulflayer Yor'sahj blasts his primary target with dark energy, dealing 75000 Shadow damage and reducing the amount of healing they take by -5%.

Call Blood of the Old Gods: Soulflayer Yor'sahj calls to the might of the Old Gods, summoning a globule of their blood. These globules will path slowly towards Yor'sahj, infusing him with their powers if they reach him.

Fusing Vapors: When attacked, the blood globules emit a vapor that fuses with all other nearby globules, healing them for 5% of their maximum life

Glowing Blood of the Old Gods: Yor'sahj becomes Infused with the Glowing Blood of the Old Gods, causing Void Bolt to hit all nearby targets, reducing the cooldowns by half, and increasing attack speed by 50%.

Cobalt Blood of the Old Gods: Grants the ability: Mana Void. Mana voids will leech the mana from all casters and healers, storing it in the void. Destroying the mana void will return the sum of the mana leeched evenly to all units within 18 yards.

Crimson Blood of the Old Gods: Grants the ability: Searing Blood. Yor'sahj sears the blood of random enemies, dealing 25000 base Fire damage. The further the target stands from Yor'sahj, the more shock they receive from the blast.

Black Blood of the Old Gods: Causes the mouth of Iso'rath to become a bubbling cesspool of corruption, spawning Forgotten Ones periodically.

Forgotten One

These creatures fixate on a random target.

Psychic Slice: Channels a wave of psychic force in a cone in front of the caster, dealing 160000 Shadow damage.

Acidic Blood of the Old Gods: Causes the mouth of Iso'rath to bubble with Digestive Juices. Digestive acid periodically leaks from the stomach lining, dealing 35000 Nature damage to an enemy and its surrounding allies within 4 yards.

Shadowed Blood of the Old Gods: Grants the ability: Deep Corruption. Healing or absorbtion effects taken while under this effect will trigger a detonation at 5 stacks, dealing 50000 Shadow damage to all nearby allies.

Hagara the Stormbinder

Hagara, one of the first students of arcane magic under the Forsaken, showed surprising potential for one who had started learning so late in life. But in her undisciplined attempts to bind elementals into servitude, she was ensnared and twisted by the Windlord, Al'Akir. Now fiercely loyal to the Twilight's Hammer, Hagara binds others for her elemental masters to torment.

You pups don't stand a chance!

Hagara wields the power of ice to paralyze and destroy her enemies.

Ice Lance: Hagara conjures crystals of ice that fire lances towards melee attackers. The lances deal 15000 Frost damage in a 3 yard area around the first enemy struck.

Ice Tomb: Hagara traps an enemy in a tomb of ice. The tomb remains until destroyed.

Binding Crystal

Crystal Conductor: Hagara conjures crystal rods which protect her from the lightning storm she conjures.
Crystal rods connected to the storm deal Nature damage to allies unfortunate enough to be close.

Bound Lightning Elementals

Hagara calls two elementals to aid her during the electrical storm. Upon death, they cause a conductor to overload.

Ultraxion

More an abomination of dark energy than a dragon, Ultraxion has spent his short life absorbing the essence of captured nether dragons. Ultraxion is the only twilight dragon Deathwing has praised, and his arrogance is overshadowed only by the crackling energies surging through his twisted form. Loyal to his master, Ultraxion swears to bring about the fall of Wyrmrest Temple.

Warmaster Blackhorn

Though once vast in number, only a few dozen twilight dragons now remain. Astride these hardened survivors are the last vestiges of the Twilight's Hammer's army: the elite drake riders of Deathwing's personal escort. Led by the insidious Warmaster Blackhorn, they move with unholy purpose, driven to protect their dark master.

Spine of Deathwing

When Deathwing first channeled the Dragon Soul's power against the other flights, the massive energies that were unleashed threatened to break apart his very body. Rather than forgo this weapon, he had adamantium plates fused to his scales to hold his body together. Later reinforced with elementium, these plates are now his weakness--the sole vulnerability to Deathwing's lethal presence.

Barrel Roll: Throughout the encounter, Deathwing tries to throw players from his back when he senses that they are all standing on the same side of his spine. During a barrel roll, all players and other creatures not attached to his back are thrown off.

Elementium Reinforced Plates

The glancing strike from the Dragon Soul has destroyed one of the large armor plates on Deathwing's back and loosened another three. All of these plates must be removed if Thrall is to have a chance to get a clear shot.

Burning Tendons

Burning Tendons are exposed when one of Deathwing's armor plates is pried up. Destroying these fibrous strands is the key to removing an armor plate.

Seal Armor Breach: When an armor plate is pried up, the Burning Tendons rapidly pull the plate closed, protecting the tendons from further damage and preventing the plate from flying off.

Deathwing's Immune System

The creatures that comprise Deathwing's Immune System emerge from the holes in his back left by torn off armor plates. Deathwing defends himself with increasing intensity as more plates are torn off.

Grasping Tendrils: These tendrils sprout from holes in Deathwing's back that aren't currently occupied by Corruption tentacles. Players that wander too close will be grasped, reducing their movement speed by -50% and inflicting 15000 Fire damage every 0 sec. until they move away. This effect prevents players from being thrown off Deathwing's back.

Corruption

These tentacles are dramatic physical manifestations of the Old God Corruption that runs rampant through Deathwing's body. They are the first to emerge from the holes in his back left by armor plates, and they seal the wound completely, preventing any other creatures from emerging from it.

Searing Plasma: Coats the victim in the searing blood of Deathwing. The thick blood will absorb up to 300000 healing done to the target and will cause the victim to cough up blood, periodically inflicting 10000 Physical damage.

Fiery Grip: Grips victims with a whip-like cord of plasma, stunning them for up to 30 sec and inflicting 50000 Fire damage every 5 sec. The corruption must channel to maintain this effect, and it may be broken by inflicting significant damage to the tentacle. This effect prevents players from being thrown off Deathwing's back.

Hideous Amalgamation

These unstable creatures are a patchwork of Elementium Armor fragments and pieces of the former Dragon's body held together by his molten blood.

Absorb Blood: Absorbs nearby Corrupted Blood residue. The Amalgamation grows more unstable with each Residue absorbed, increasing its damage by 10% and attack speed by 10%. At stacks it will become superheated.

Superheated Nucleus: The core of the Amalgamation becomes critically unstable, causing it to inflict 15000 Fire damage to all enemies every 3 sec. If it is destroyed in this state it will trigger a Nuclear Blast.

Nuclear Blast: The superheated nucleus of the Amalgamation triggers a massive explosion, inflicting 500000 Fire damage to targets within 10 yds. This blast is powerful enough to pry up one of Deathwing's Elementium plates if it is within range.

Degradation: Destroyed Amalgamations degrade the maximum health of all enemy targets by -6%. This effect occurs regardless of the state of the nucleus and stacks up to $106005u times.

Blood Corruption: Death: Deathwing's corruption courses through your veins. This corruption will take hold if it is not removed quickly, infecting the player with the Blood of Deathwing. When dispelled this effect jumps to a new target and can mutate into Blood Corruption: Earth.

Blood of Deathwing: The blood of Deathwing explodes violently from your veins, inflicting 875000 Fire damage to you and several other players.

Blood Corruption: Earth: A shadow of Neltharion courses through your veins. This corruption will take hold if it is not removed quickly, infecting the player with the Blood of Neltharion. When dispelled this effect jumps to a new target and can mutate into Blood Corruption: Death.

Blood of Neltharion: The barest hint of a shadow of the former Earth-Warder suffuses your blood. Damage taken from all sources is reduced by -10%. This effect can stack up to times.

Corrupted Blood

These living globs of Deathwing's blood appear fragile, but leave behind an indestructible residue when killed.

Residue: This indestructible residue is left behind when a Corrupted Blood is destroyed. It slowly creeps toward the nearest hole in Deathwing's Back where it will be reconstituted into a new Corrupted Blood.

Madness of Deathwing

A warped mass of molten hatred and unfathomable power, this formless, mindless horror cannot be stopped. Whatever was left of Neltharion the Earth-Warder is long gone, his mind and soul corrupted and devoured by his Old God masters. All this monstrous being desires is destruction, annihilation, and the end of all things.

Stage One: The Final Assault

Deathwing assaults his enemies as long as he is attached to the platforms by his twisted limbs.

Assault Aspect: Deathwing begins to search for his next enemy to assault. Deathwing will assault the platform with the largest number of players present on it that one of his limbs is still grasping onto.

Cataclysm: Deathwing attempts to finish the job he started by bringing forth a second Cataclysm, inflicting 1500000 Fire damage to all enemies.

Elementium Meteor:Deathwing creates an Elementium Meteor, sending it to the target platform.

Elementium Meteor

If the Elementium Meteor reaches it's destination it will inflict 400000 Fire damage to all enemies the damage decreases the further from the target location.

Hemorrhage: Deathwing's tentacle begins to Hemorrhage, causing several Regenerative Blood to spawn at a nearby location.

Aspects: The great aspects assist in the fight against Deathwing. Each aspect will channel Expose Weakness on their respective Limb Tentacle when Deathwing begins to cast Cataclysm, increasing the damage done to the Tentacle by 200%. Additionally each aspect will begin to channel Concentration after it's respective tentacle is destroyed, preventing them from assisting the players with their presence and their special powers. When Phase two begins all of the aspects will resume assisting the champions.

Nozdormu

Time Zone: Nozdormu forms a Time Zone at the target location, causing the Elementium Meteor to lapse in time, decreasing its travel speed dramatically when entering the Time Zone. Additionally any enemy creatures within the Time Zone have their attack speed decreased by -50%.

Ysera

Ysera's Presence: The Presence of the great aspect Ysera increases healing done by 30%.

Dreaming:The Presence of the great aspect Ysera allows players to enter the Dream, decreasing damage taken by -50%.

Kalecgos

Kalecgos' Presence: The Presence of the great aspect Kalecgos increases damage dealt by 30%.

Spell-Weaving: The Presence of the great aspect Kalecgos causes attacks and abilities to cause Spellweaving. Spellweaving inflicts 100000 Arcane damage to enemies within 8 yards, excluding the target.

Thrall

Carrying Winds: The Carrying Winds will take players to the adjacent platform. The Carrying Winds increase your move speed by 60%. Stacks.

Tier 13

Keep in mind we do intend to allow tier 13 set pieces to drop for those using the upcoming Raid Finder. Similar to the difference between normal and Heroic versions of tier sets, the Raid Finder set will have a lower item level than the normal and Heroic counterparts.

Set pieces from all three difficulty levels can still be mixed and matched for the 2- and 4-piece bonuses.

Ultimately, we recognize that making these set pieces available only as raid drops leaves players much more subject to RNG drop rates/loot rolls, but we have a couple of plans to try and alleviate the sense of burden that stems from the randomness of token drops.

The way tier 13 pieces will be obtained in the 4.3 raid won't be unlike raids past, meaning players will still need to roll on multi-class set tokens. That said, we'll be tweaking the tier 13 10-player drop rates a little bit (for the better) relative to the 25-player version, given that these tier pieces can't be purchased from vendors for Valor Points.

In addition, due to tier pieces not being offered for Valor Points, another thing you'll see in patch 4.3 is a much wider array of desirable non-set loot (covering more slots than prior patches) available from the vendors, for those players who are unlucky with specific token drops, or who aren't interested in raiding -- although, once you get more details about the Raid Finder, we hope you'll find interest in having a go.

I felt this warranted its own response in a separate thread, but for those who missed it, here's my response to the original thread about tier 13 pieces being raid drops only:

Cool! Thanks. Most of this tier was attempting to play off a new ability the class got in Cataclysm, so for instance Time Warp for mages and Wild Mushroom for druid, in some cases (like warrior or warlock) there's playing off of the raid and those themes, and then for others it's a bit more just doing something we think represents the class in a more abstract manner.

So Paladins will look like Guardian of Ancient Kings?

<.<

>.>

^.^

Dragon Soul Raid Interview with Scott Mercer (Spoilers)

In World of Warcraft content patch 4.3, players will make their ultimate stand against Deathwing the Destroyer. Almost a year has passed since the corrupted Dragon Aspect burst forth from the Maelstorm to bring the Cataclysm down upon the mortal races. Now the determined survivors from the Horde and Alliance have rallied to unleash vengeance of their own.

To prepare for this earth-shattering battle, the Blizzard Insider recently discussed the upcoming Dragon Soul raid with Scott Mercer, lead encounter designer from the World of Warcraft team. Read on for all the epic details.

***CAUTION: THIS INTERVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER INFORMATION ON THE CATACLYSM STORY AND THE FINAL BATTLE AGAINST DEATHWING.***

Blizzard Insider: Before we dive into the details, can you tell us about Deathwing’s character arc to date?

Scott Mercer: Deathwing has changed the face of Azeroth probably more than any other villain in Warcraft’s history. He tore the Barrens in half. He caused tidal waves that transformed both continents. He even burned his claw marks into Stormwind Keep, leaving his personal signature on the Alliance capital. In many ways Deathwing embodies the Cataclysm itself, not just as the direct cause of it, but also as the thematic center of the expansion. His violent transformation from Earth-Warder to Destroyer ultimately led to all these changes across Azeroth, so in a very direct way, his character arc represents the force that set the entire expansion into motion.

That said, we’ve been building towards a showdown with Deathwing for some time. Players have been wrestling with his Twilight's Hammer minions since before Cataclysm, and we’ve already seen Deathwing defeat Alexstrasza in single combat. The powers that be in Azeroth know Deathwing presents a mortal threat, so in the wake of all the chaos and destruction, forces are finally rallying to oppose him. That’s how patch 4.3 begins, with the major players of Azeroth gathering to decide how they are going to tackle this seemingly unstoppable monster.

Insider: Can you tell us about the new 5-player dungeons that lead into the Deathwing raid?

Scott Mercer: The short version is that the players are sent on a series of quests to recover the Dragon Soul artifact so Thrall and the other dragonflights will have the firepower they need to confront Deathwing. The new 5-player dungeons involve the Caverns of Time and require the players to go forward in time to witness a future where Deathwing has destroyed the world. Then, from that bleak future, they must go back in time to the War of the Ancients to recover the Dragon Soul and bring it back to the present. We’ve discussed a lot more details on the new 5-player dungeons in other interviews. They're going to lead in directly to the patch 4.3 raid instance, which is called Dragon Soul. When the raid begins, the players have recovered the Dragon Soul artifact and arrive at Wyrmrest Temple to find it under siege by Deathwing’s forces.

Insider: Aside from a battle with Deathwing, what other encounters do you have planned for the Dragon Soul raid?

Scott Mercer: When players first arrive at Wyrmrest, they have to fight off a variety of Deathwing’s minions who are laying siege to the temple. There’s Morchok, a stone giant who is pounding the base of Wyrmrest, and Warlord Zon’ozz and Yor’sajh the Unsleeping, two servants of the Old Gods in league with Deathwing who are summoning more minions to sack the gates.

In addition to lifting the siege around Wyrmrest, the players also have to return to the Eye of Eternity to get the Focusing Iris so the Dragon Aspects can refocus their power into the Dragon Soul. We have some new gameplay elements in mind for these raids, including a mechanic where players are granted the ability to dodge a deadly attack from a twilight dragon by phasing away.

Insider: What details can you tell us about the Deathwing raid? How does it differ from other raids?

Scott Mercer: Dragon Soul is the most story-driven raid we’ve ever created. We’re even building several cut scenes to transition between the last three stages of the final encounter with Deathwing.

The first stage occurs as players are flying on an airship, chasing down Deathwing while his Twilight's Hammer drake riders are swooping in to harry the pursuit. In the second stage, players paratroop commando-style onto Deathwing’s back and start ripping up his armor, trying to pry a hole big enough to give Thrall a clean shot with the Dragon Soul. During this phase, players are actually riding on Deathwing as he’s swooping around and trying to knock the players off with barrel rolls and such. Players will have to hang on at key points in the fight to avoid falling while also tangling with all kinds of monstrosities that are rising out of Deathwing’s corrupted magma blood. Once the players get enough of Deathwing’s armor off, Thrall blasts Deathwing with the Dragon Soul and sends him crash-landing into the Maelstrom.

Insider: Very cool! And the final stage?

Scott Mercer: Well, the interesting thing about Deathwing’s armor is that it wasn’t really built to keep things out--he doesn’t have to worry about weapons like swords and arrows. Instead it was built to keep things in. His body is this incredibly volatile mixture of corruptive energy and burning magma, so without his armor to hold it all together, he starts to lose it and come apart in all kinds of crazy ways. The final stage of the raid begins when Deathwing’s deformed body rises out of the Maelstrom to face off against the players in the final showdown. I won’t go into too much detail about this final stage, but I will say that it’s going to be unbelievably epic. Even in his weakened state, Deathwing still presents a major threat, and bringing him down will require the combined efforts of the players, Thrall, and even the other Dragon Aspects.

Insider: What difficulties did you encounter while designing the Deathwing battle?

Scott Mercer: It took a lot of new technologies to set up the fight on Deathwing’s back. The artists in particular focused on selling the fantasy that you’re grappling with a giant dragon midflight. We’ve never done anything quite like that before. Overall, setting the right scope for an encounter like Deathwing required a lot of development disciplines working together--artists, coders, encounter designers, level designers, and animators. We built corrupted Deathwing as a giant set piece with a lot of moving parts--probably our most complicated character model to date--but we felt it was necessary to convey the epic scale and do justice to the final boss of Cataclysm.

Scott Mercer: There will be a new tier of armor sets, of course. We’re also adding a new legendary weapon--a pair of daggers for rogues--with a new quest chain involved in obtaining them. The artists and animators are working on a new mount, a drake from the red dragonflight that borrows many visual elements from the Alexstrasza character model. Players can get one version of the new mount as the reward for the meta achievement for completing all other Dragon Soul achievements. There will also be a second, rarer version of the mount, that’s obtainable as a single, guaranteed drop off Heroic corrupted Deathwing.

Insider: Thanks for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to share before you go?

Scott Mercer: Sure, there’s a lot going into the next content update besides just the Dragon Soul raid--Transmogrification, Void Storage, the new Darkmoon Faire, and more. The patch should have something for everyone.

Be sure to check these links for all the latest details on the other features coming with patch 4.3:

Brewfest

Every year, the brewmasters from Drohn’s Distillery, T’chali’s Voodoo Brewery, the Barleybrews, and the Thunderbrews celebrate their handiwork with two weeks of fun, frivolity, steins, spirits, and sausages right outside the gates of Ironforge and Orgrimmar. It’s an event that includes many opportunities for characters of all levels to drink together, participate in intoxicating quests, and earn many achievements that are only available during this holiday.

But it’s mainly about the brew!

With so many revelers enjoying the fermented fruits of the harvest -- pretzels, cheese, and booze -- it’s only a matter of time before the Dark Iron Dwarves from Blackrock Mountain will crash the party. You can team up and drive them back to the Grim Guzzler to earn valuable Brewfest Prize Tokens. If the Dark Iron are already running for the mountains, you can also earn tokens by completing daily keg deliveries, barking runs for the brewers, and other quests that you can drink your way through. After a few too many, you might even spot a pink elekk or wild wolpertinger.

This is also the only time of the year that groups of players can track down and fight the mug-wielding boss Coren Direbrew in Blackrock Depths. Coren Direbrew is even more powerful this year than in years past, with a stash of loot that he has spent all year improving and updating, and defeating him is your only chance to win a Swift Brewfest Ram or a Great Brewfest Kodo. Don’t forget, as with any holiday-related boss you can queue up to take him on directly from the Dungeon Finder.

Don’t forget to join Gelbin Mekkatorque or Vol’jin at the stand in the Brewfest grounds at 6:15 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. every day during Brewfest, for the tapping of the keg. They’ll get your day or night started right with a buff that grants 10% extra experience from your kills for two hours.

Blizz Blues #32, Legendary #44 and The Weekly Marmot

Diablo III Beta Is Live

The fiery gates leading to the Burning Hells have begun to swing open, and the Diablo III beta test is officially underway. Invitations to participate in the beta test are now being delivered to the chosen heroes. As with beta tests for other Blizzard Entertainment games, the testing process for Diablo III will occur in phases. In addition to selecting players who have opted in via their Battle.net accounts, we’ll also be providing keys through beta promotions and giveaways -- stay tuned for more info. We welcome those invited to provide feedback or report bugs on the official forums.

If you have a beta license, you are free to show, share, or talk about any portion of the beta content to which you have access, as this beta test is not confidential.

We’d like to remind those looking forward to an invite to be wary of phishing attempts. If you believe you’ve received an invite to the Diablo III beta test, it’s best to refrain from clicking on any links in the email, and instead log in to your Battle.net account to see if a Diablo III beta game account was granted. Or, if you were sent a key, attempt to add it manually by going to the Add or Upgrade a Game section of the Battle.net account management page.

For those who have received an invite to the beta test, we thank you for helping us test out our server stability and hardware. For those of you still hoping for an invite, we wish you the best of luck and hope you’ll keep an eye out for some of the beta-key giveaways and promotions we’ll have right here on the Diablo III community site.

2 Million Facebook Likes

Over two million people are now following our Warcraft Facebook page! To show you how much we love you for "Liking" us, we've released a new desktop wallpaper image featuring Azeroth's favorite newlyweds, Thrall and Aggra, standing together against the fury of the Maelstrom. Head over to our wallpaper gallery to download this picture-perfect moment for yourself, or to check out the rest of our wallpaper art.

Don't miss out on any Blizzard news or events! If you aren't already following us on Facebook, be sure to visit the official Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Blizzard pages.

Wolfheart Novel

New York Times bestselling author Richard A. Knaak's latest book chronicles a series of pivotal events in the aftermath of the Cataclysm, as conflict engulfs every corner of Azeroth. Hungering for more resources amid the turmoil, the Horde have pressed into Ashenvale to feed their burgeoning war machine. There, acting warchief Garrosh Hellscream has employed a brutal new tactic to conquer the region and crush its night elf defenders. Unless the Alliance can overcome its own political strife, the new warchief might succeed in seizing Ashenvale.

Wolfheart is the story of King Varian Wrynn's struggle to accept the worgen of Gilneas into the Alliance and come to terms with the wolf within himself. As the Horde threat emerges in Ashenvale, Varian's ability to triumph over his own failings will determine the fate of the entire Alliance.

Excerpt One

The breathing became labored, exhausted. The orcs heard stumbling.

Then there came a violent thud. The cage shuddered and almost slipped again. Only the strength of nearly two dozen struggling orcs kept that from happening.

Briln and the others waited several tense moments, but there was no renewed movement or sound. With caution, the captain approached the covered cage. Becoming more daring, he prodded the tarp.

Nothing happened. Briln exhaled in relief, then turned to the others. "Load that thing aboard, then get those bars bent back and that hole covered with something! Better make sure that there's always a sack of that herb concoction the shaman gave us ready to sprinkle on the thing's food! We can't afford this on the seas!"

The other orcs moved to follow his orders. The captain studied the silhouettes of the other ships. Each contained such a cage. The new warchief Garrosh had commanded that this venture be completed, regardless of the cost in seeing it done. Briln and the others here had not questioned that cost, either, for all would have readily perished for the legendary overlord of the Warsong offensive. Garrosh's deeds were epic and retold over and over in the Horde. He was also the son of the late Grom Hellscream and had been an advisor to Thrall, the orc leader who had freed their people from captivity.

Yes, no matter how many lives it had already cost and would likely cost by the time the fleet reached its destination, it was all worth it to Briln and the others. The Horde was at last within grasp of its destiny. It had the vitality, the drive, that this altered Azeroth deserved. Those who had held power so long in the world had become decadent... too weak and soft. The Horde--and especially the orcs--would finally stake its claim on the more lush regions that it needed not only to survive but finally to thrive as it had long deserved.

This recent Cataclysm, so Garrosh had impressed upon his people, was the great sign that this was their day. The world had been torn asunder, and to survive meant to be able to adapt to its much-transformed lands.

The crewmembers finally had the last cage loaded. Briln watched as they sealed the hull. They had a fair supply of the sleep powder in stock, and there were other threats that were supposed to keep the creatures in line, but the elder orc looked forward to the end of the journey.

Aboard deck, his first mate saluted. "Everything's secured, Captain! All set to sail on your word!"

"Get us going, then," Briln growled. "The sooner we get this cargo to Garrosh, the sooner it becomes the Alliance's trouble...."

The other orc grunted agreement, then turned to bellow Briln's command. In short order, the ship pulled away from the dock.

The winds whirled madly and thunder crashed. A storm was brewing, the last thing the fleet needed. Still, the captain thought it nothing compared to what the Horde's enemies would soon face. Briln stared beyond the dark, swirling waters, imagining the fleet's destination, imagining what his cargo would do once Garrosh had it under his reins.

And for a moment, Briln almost pitied Ashenvale's defenders, almost pitied the night elves.

But then... they were only night elves....

Excerpt Two

"Hail, King of Gilneas," the archdruid solemnly declared.

"Gilneas..." murmured the brawny, dour figure. Genn Greymane resembled a bear, albeit an aging one. No handsome man, he yet had a commanding presence and eyes still sharp and quick for a human of his more mature age. Unlike the night elf, Genn sported a much shorter, clipped beard. He stood taller than Eadrik, which brought him slightly nearer to the night elf in stature.

"Gilneas..." the king repeated. "In name only, Archdruid."

"For now!" Eadrik piped up.

"We shall see." Glancing at the other human, Genn added, "And why is the archdruid here? I asked you to see about an audience with him, not drag him to me--"

Malfurion interjected before the misunderstanding could grow out of proportion. "I told your man to take me to you, Genn. Your request coincided with my need to talk with you. Following Eadrik back saved valuable time."

"It's about the summit, Archdruid."

"Of course. Gilneas is one of the most prominent reasons I sought to bring it to fruition. Your people's admission to the Alliance is--"

"Re-admission, you mean," the king growled with much bitterness. "After I was foolish enough to think that Gilneas was best served taking matters into its own hands."

"Genn! The curse was something beyond your control! You could not have--"

"It doesn't matter!" the lord of Gilneas growled, for the moment sounding more like an animal than a man. He leaned into the archdruid, and although Malfurion was still taller, to the night elf it seemed that their gazes met evenly. Genn seemed bigger, wilder. "It doesn't matter! We are and will always be cursed!"

Malfurion fought to take command of the conversation again. "We wanted to speak to one another about the gathering. The first emissaries will be arriving tomorrow."

Genn deflated. "Yes. The summit. They'll all have their chance to judge me for my foolish mistakes."

"I have been in contact with several of them. They understand the necessities of the time. They understand that you regret all that happened. They also can appreciate what you and your people can offer."

The night elf extended a comforting hand to the human's shoulder. Genn accepted it without question. "You have gained far better control of it than you think. You offer nothing but advantage, Genn. At the very least, they will have to seriously consider that aspect."

"Even Stormwind?"

"I have no answer there," Malfurion admitted. "But I have great hope." The archdruid leaned closer. "He is coming. That was what I especially wanted to tell you."

"Stormwind is coming?" blurted Eadrik. "My lord! That means--"

"Exactly nothing," the king of Gilneas responded at first. Still, his eyes shone with hope of his own. "No... perhaps it means much... if he and I can set aside our differences. I know that I'm more than willing."

"Varian Wrynn is a wise man," the archdruid pointed out. "Stormwind would not be what it is if he were not."

Genn finally could not help smiling at the news. "As you say. This lightens my heart! There is a chance, after all. If he's coming, he must be willing to let bygones be bygones...."

Malfurion pulled back. "I need to return to dealing with the summit. I merely wanted to assure you that there is every reason to believe that Gilneas will be accepted into the Alliance. I want your promise that you will attend as previously stated and be willing to show your humility as well as your strength."

"I'll be doing my part, don't you doubt it, Archdruid." Genn offered his hand, which Malfurion shook. "There's my promise again on all we agreed to. If there's any hope of seeing our home again, it's to get through this summit."

"And I promise again to see that everyone understands the import of this... even Stormwind."

Genn Greymane signaled to Eadrik, who slipped into the forest. The lord of Gilneas gave Malfurion one last grateful nod. "I know you'll do all you can. It wouldn't have gotten this far without you, Archdruid." Genn gritted his teeth. "But from here on, you know it all lies in one man's hands."

"He will come to see things as they must be for all our sakes."

"I believe that, but let us pray to your Elune just the same. I'll take all the help we can get...." With that, the king slipped into the forest.

The archdruid stood there, momentarily caught up in his thoughts. His gaze fixed on the area into which Genn and Eadrik had departed.

A large, dark shape momentarily arose among the underbrush, then disappeared among the trees again. It was tall enough to be a man... but was not.

The sight, though expected, still jarred the night elf slightly. As he turned, he again silently swore to do everything he could to help the refugees from Gilneas, including ensure that they were welcomed back into the Alliance by everyone.

After all, they might never even have been cursed if not for Malfurion.

PayPal and Battle.net

We're pleased to announce that in most regions, PayPal will be our payment-service partner for the Diablo III auction house, allowing players who trade with real-world currency the ability to cash out the spoils of their battle-torn adventures via a PayPal account.

PayPal will also soon be added in several regions as a payment option on Battle.net, providing another convenient and secure payment method for digital purchases of Blizzard products and services.

We’ll share region-related specifics, as well as further details on everything mentioned above, in the near future. Stay tuned!